The Great Catholic Evangelist: Who is the next Bishop Sheen?

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Outside of Pope John Paul II the Church has not had an energizing, inspiring, and enlightening orator since Bishop Fulton Sheen.

Who will be the next great Catholics Evangelist? It doesnt matter to me if they are clergy or layperson. I wondering who you think might be the next great communicator, motivator and “preacher” for the Church.

Opinions?
 
menofstjoseph said:
Outside of Pope John Paul II the Church has not had an energizing, inspiring, and enlightening orator since Bishop Fulton Sheen.

Who will be the next great Catholics Evangelist? It doesnt matter to me if they are clergy or layperson. I wondering who you think might be the next great communicator, motivator and “preacher” for the Church.

Opinions?
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I think the magic word is “orator.”

Does somebody need to be an energizing orator to be effective?

If being a great orator is the qualification of an evangelist, wouldn’t that make Joel Osteen the greatest evangelist of all time? ;):
 
My favorite would be Fr. Corapi. But then, I haven’t had the opportunity to listen to Bishop Sheen to compare.
 
Other than the Pope, Father John Corapi and Father Mitch Pacwa should be considered.
 
menofstjoseph said:
Outside of Pope John Paul II the Church has not had an energizing, inspiring, and enlightening orator since Bishop Fulton Sheen.

Who will be the next great Catholics Evangelist? It doesnt matter to me if they are clergy or layperson. I wondering who you think might be the next great communicator, motivator and “preacher” for the Church.

Opinions?
Click to expand...
Father Mitch Pacwa
 
Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.
Fr. Corapi.
Mother Angelica.
I’m sure there are many parish priests who are very good, too.
 
graceandglory said:
I think the magic word is “orator.”

Does somebody need to be an energizing orator to be effective?

If being a great orator is the qualification of an evangelist, wouldn’t that make Joel Osteen the greatest evangelist of all time? ;):
Click to expand...
Guys, I am not asking who is the smartest Catholic leader. If intelligence was what it was all about why wasn’t Aquinas pope? I’m not talking asking for your vote for the best Christian Orator. If (and this is a BIG “if”) being an engaging speaker was all the Church looked for then Oral Roberts could have been the Bishop of Rome. Nor am I asking you who is the is the best debtor. If that was the case we could all follow Al Gore.

NO!!!

I am asking you who is most likely to follow in the footsteps of Bishop Sheen. Sheen was a man who seemed to possess many qualities so important in cracking the code to reach today’s public. He was charismatic, he was supremely educated, he was a gifted dramatic speaker, he was a theologian, and HE UNDERSTOOD THE POWER OF THE MEDIA. He could look in a camera, grab a viewer by the frontal lobe, and shake their soul…all at the same time.

With all due respect to men like Fr. Pacwa who certainly understands the media and is an extremely good theologian, he is an average speaker. He can’t quite pull in the trifecta.

Hahn is beyond brilliant, but is not the most engaging speaker.

Today, I think the ones that get closer to Sheen are men like Kelly, Richards and Corapi. (Note: one is NOT a member of clergy…is that a problem or a good thing?)

Speakers like Sheen and these other Catholic examples seem to have the total package - charisma, dogma, practical understanding and “every-man” engagement.

Who else is doing that within the Church? Please give examples and names.

Thanks and God bless.
 
IMHO, Bishop Sheen will be a very, very tough act to follow. Speakers like him only come along once in a blue moon and I havn’t seen another blue moon since he left us!

And he lived and preached in a very different time. I mean can you actually picture any priest or lay person getting his own prime time gig on network TV today like Bishop Sheen had? Good grief, it would never, ever happen today!

But for the sake of discussion, I’ll add the name of Fr. Cedric Pisegna, a Passionist priest. He has a show that is aired on many Catholic channels including EWTN called “Live Passionately!” He really knows how to relate Jesus’s life to our own. His preaching can convert sinners lives and his message is all about how through the love of God, we can all live better lives. Fr. Cedric is also a prolific writer of books on many Catholic teachings.

I also like Fr. Groeschell of the Franciscans. Very good speaker and always interesting IMO, but he is getting on in years now.

Fr. Corapi is really strong and dynamic and his life story is quite dramatic as well so we can all relate to him…
 
Father Corapi is AWESOME. I just heard him speak for the first time on EWTN-extremely powerful, and relevant to the times.
 
I would like to submit Father Robert Barron from Word on Fire Catholic ministries. I’m breezing through all his audio sermons right now and they’re really great. His theology is solid and his insights into scripture are very helpful. He may not be the most dynamic or charismatic speaker and has a sorta charming geekiness but his delivery is engaging and it’s really the substance of his sermons that make them interesting to listen to.
 
menofstjoseph said:
Outside of Pope John Paul II the Church has not had an energizing, inspiring, and enlightening orator since Bishop Fulton Sheen.

Who will be the next great Catholics Evangelist? It doesnt matter to me if they are clergy or layperson. I wondering who you think might be the next great communicator, motivator and “preacher” for the Church.

Opinions?
Click to expand...
DREs were talking about this recently in our meeting and nominate our new bishop Daniel Flores for this role. We have seen him in action at our confirmations and other diocesan wide events and are so very impressed with his speaking style, forceful delivery, even his voice and mannerisms call Bishop Sheen to mind.
 
Fr. Larry Richards

He has a compassionate but speak the truth approach that I love.
 
I hope it will be Father Robert Barron. If you haven’t heard of him or watched any of his sermons or commentaries you owe yourself the pleasure of doing so. His website is called Word on Fire, I’ve posted a link to it below:

wordonfire.org
 
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